Archive · 31 Jul 2026
CAG Flags Anomalies in West Bengal Cyclone Amphan Relief
In 2020, a big storm called Cyclone Amphan hit West Bengal, India, and the state government promised money to help people rebuild.
A government watchdog, the CAG, looked at the records and found problems.
Some people got the same picture used for many claims, and some got money more than once.
The CAG also saw that local politicians helped decide who got money without checking if the houses were really damaged.
They found that a lot of money was moved into bank accounts before it was sent to people.
The report says the state should fix these mistakes and make sure only the right people get help.
CAG identified duplicate payments totaling Rs 18.07 crore to 9,226 beneficiaries.
Identical photographs were used for 3,126 claims, suggesting fraud.
Grants were often approved by local political leaders without proper inspections.
Rs 1.38 crore of house‑building grants were parked in bank accounts before DBTs.
The audit highlighted mismatches in crop and horticulture assistance totaling over Rs 120 crore.
- Who
- Trinamool Congress government and the Comptroller and Auditor General
- What
- Anomalies and irregularities in relief distribution after Cyclone Amphan
- When
- Cyclone Amphan struck in May 2020; audit report released in 2023
- Where
- West Bengal, India
- Why
- To expose potential fraud and corruption in the allocation of relief funds
- Duplicate payments
- Rs 18.07 crore
- Duplicate beneficiaries
- 9,226
- Identical photographs
- 3,126
- Total beneficiaries
- 19.38 lakh
- House‑building grant total
- Rs 1.94851 crore